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Deerhead light
Deerhead Light Deerhead light is a domestic light beer brewed and distributed in Saskatchewan. In November 2009 they signed on with X group to create a media campaign aimed at retaining customers as the customer base fell and switched to competing products. As a result of the media campaign run by x group, Deerhead market share increased 1.4% in one year. The Challenge The Deerhead brand has been in the Saskatchewan market for over 70 years. They've had the benefit of dominating the domestic beer market in the region for quite some time and have long time loyal customers who identify strongly with the brand. However, over that 70 years, there has been a large ingress from bigger and bigger domestic beer brands, increasing competition, and decreasing Deerhead market share. Despite having a great product and a strong core consumer base, Deerhead has steadily seen customers flock to other brands with similar attributes. These other brands have a strong position, deep pockets for media production, and now have top of mind recognition in the market. To be truly competitive, Deerhead needs to increase brand awareness and reach its target demographic on a more meaningful way. They need to have top of mind recognition and be a stronger brand presence in the region to drive up sales. Despite Deerhead's foothold in the region, young men, aged 23-29 were a target market that had little brand awareness, or had an emotional affectation such that the beer was not targeted to them. It was considered old and boring. X Group developed a 5 year media plan to elevate the brand, increase awareness, and to engage consumers to own the brand in a way that made a meaningful connection to Saskatchewan consumers. Our Solution During the course of our research, we found that men aged 23-29 were choosing other beers of similar qualities over Deerhead brand beers. We knew that Deerhead was losing this demographic to larger domestic beer companies that had top of mind recognition and very strong youthful brand positioning. Taking these companies on directly and competing for their brand position was a losing proposition, so we decided to take another tack. We conducted research that suggested young men in the 23-29 range who had brand awareness of Deerhead products associated it with their fathers. Often they grew up around adults who identified with this brand, and it had been a fixture at family events, parties, etc. Our research also showed that many in this demographic who drank competitors products didn't fall under the target demographic or otherwise had some form of brand image and self image mismatch. Our solution centered around more narrowly identifying our brand target, and speaking directly to them in a way that other brands failed to do. We decided to create a new brand image that these people could use to express themselves in a way that other brands were failing to represent. Traditional Media campaign The Rules TV spot Being able to interact with the brand and actively shape the pride of place campaign was crucial to engaging and igniting the brand to turn customers into brand ambasadors. We launched a TV spot that featured "our guy", a man who is never named, but who our target strongly identifies with. We put him in social situations (bars, concerts, camping trips, roadtrips, etc.) and had him interact with these situations that was consistent with the strong regional social identity. The spots were two parters, with one section being an initial setup, and the second part airing in another commercial block. The first spot would introduce a situation rising conflict, and end before a resolution. The second spot would be one of two or three alternate endings whereby "our guy" would survey the situation in slow motion, decide on a course of action, and resolve tension by being a good guy, consistent with "the rules" Digital Strategy Texting a friednd We knew our demographic was never more than a click, call, or text away from his friends, and that he was a "good guy" or a solid friend. We wanted him to interact directly with our "good guy" character by creating a service where they could actually text him. Consumers would ask him how to solve their problems based on "the rules" as they had debuted in the tv spot.This service was limited to weekends to deal with the sheer volume of texts and it clearly generated strong results. Writing the rules At the end of the TV spots, we gave viewers the call to action to interact with the media by allowing them to offer scenes that "our guy" might find himself in. We produced the best three, as voted on by users. We also invited users to follow our twitter account for "our guy" as he listed the rules. Users were encouraged to re-tweet and send pictures of them using the rules or use the hashtag #Therules and have the rules they posted be re-tweeted by "our guy". OOH/contest Result The campaign was a complete success. We increased marketshare in the region by 2.7% in the first year and held that market position for the subsequent 2 years. The next year saw a jump in sales as we reintegrated contests and ooh media from years past, making them local events and capitalizing on the strong Saskatchewan pride of place.